Login

Mika_Kandinsky · 02-22-2020, 02:04 AM

Code:
812 words, ready for grade

Well folks, no one could see it coming and yet here we are. The Toronto North Stars have made the playoffs. They said it could not be done. They said the team was trash and had no talent. A lot of nays were said but they did it.

It was a real fight in the east to clinch the playoff spot and it came right down to the final games to decide who would make it and who would be left on the outside looking in. At the end of the season, the New England Wolf Pack and the Toronto North Stars were duking it out for that last spot in the east. The two teams ended up with the same exact record and the tiebreaker came down to ROW which Toronto had 21 to New England's 20. This was enough to sneak Toronto in to the playoffs. Toronto's 55 points on the season were enough to sneak into the last place spot in the east, but would have had them at 4th in the West.

Now the North Stars will be up against the Buffalo Stampede in the first round of the playoffs. It should be a really close battle between these two teams. Looking at the stats, the team is pretty evenly matched. Buffalo had a better record in the regular season and scored more points overall than Toronto did throughout the season, but when looking at goals against, Toronto and Buffalo are really close.

Things get more interesting when you look at the head to head stats of these two teams in the regular season. The teams met each other 6 times throughout the season. Toronto ended up winning 3 games and losing 3, but one of the losses was an OTL. So, technically Toronto won their season series against Buffalo. This is really looking like it will be a close battle between these two teams. In the season series, Buffalo scored 21 goals and Toronto scored 20. That's pretty even! A good indicator that the teams are well matched against each other. It could all come down to a coin flip.

An interesting thing to look at in the season series between Buffalo and Toronto is that Toronto got all their points from Buffalo on the road winning 2 and losing 1 in overtime in Buffalo. Buffalo will have home ice advantage, but that might end up actually being an advantage for Toronto, especially if the series goes to seven games. We're going to have to look out for that as we see how each team performs on their own ice during the series. Typically a team wants home ice advantage, so it would be devastating to Buffalo to come out flat at home against a Toronto team that likes to play on the road.

Something else to look at that is quite interesting is that Toronto has scored the most points against Buffalo than any other team in the league. What's impressive about this, is that almost all of the goals are at even strength. Toronto's power play against Buffalo is a measly 6.25%. Their PK fares much better against Buffalo with a solid 85.71%. Toronto is going to want to spend most of the time at even strength it seems if they want to be effective against Buffalo, or they are going to have to change up their power play to be more effective during the series. Toronto likes to score on Buffalo more than any team so maybe they will have a bit of an edge in this series.

Old line mates will be facing off against each other in this series in Mika Kandinsky and Nicolaj Muller. The pair played on the top line in juniors in St. Louis together. They were a dynamic duo and put up a ton of points together. Now the two friends will face off against each other in hopes of sending the other home early from the tournament. Kandinsky, being on a young and up and coming team naturally finds himself in the top role of Toronto as their 1C and Muller plays on the second line left wing. The two might not see much of each other on the ice, but you know they are going to have a little competition between them to see who can score the most points in the series.

I'm predicting a big Toronto upset for this game. I think they have the tools necessary to beat Buffalo and Buffalo is Toronto's best match up out of the whole league. If Toronto does manage to pull of the big upset, who knows how far they might be able to go. Is it possible they go on a miraculous run to the cup finals? Only time will tell, and Buffalo is their gatekeeper.